Archon: The Books of Raziel by Sabrina Benulis

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I'll be the first to admit that I was seduced by Archon's beautiful cover and the fascinating synopsis. I just came off of reading a wonderful angels and demons novel and so was receptive to this storyline. I was doubly encouraged when, upon reading the back of the ARC, I saw an enticing comparison to Angelology, one of my favorite reads of 2010. Regrettably, what initially lured me to Archon with promises of a heavenly read was not fulfilled.

"There are some things worse than death . . .

“For years, Angela Mathers has been plagued by visions of a supernatural being--an angel with beguiling sapphire eyes and magnificent bronze wings who haunts her thoughts and seduces her dreams. Newly freed from a mental institution where she has been locked away for two years, Angela hopes that being accepted at the Vatican's exclusive university, the West Wood Academy, will bring her peace and a semblance of normality.

“But Angela isn't normal. With her stain of dark red hair and alabaster skin, she is a blood head--a freak, a monster, and the possible fulfillment of a terrifying prophecy. Blessed with strange mystical powers, blood heads hold a special place in Luz, the remote island city that is home to the Academy. Among them, one special blood head is more powerful than all: the Archon, the human reincarnation of the dead angel, Raziel. And when the Archon arises as foretold, it will control the supernatural universe.

“Barely in control her own life, Angela has no ambition to control an entire universe, not when she's suddenly contending with a dangerous enemy determined to destroy her and a magnetic novitiate who wants to save her. But the choice may not be her own. . . .

“Torn between mortal love and angelic obsession, the young blood head must soon face the truth about herself and her world. It is she who holds the key to Heaven and Hell--and both will stop at nothing to possess her."

Archon doesn't suffer for lack of intriguing ideas: A supernatural realm composed of fallen angels in various, deadly but beautiful states of being - Thrones, Jinns, Fae, in addition to the demons and witches. A female Lucifer. A Golem-like creature. (And a villain named Stephanie - YAY!) I loved the fact that the line between which supernatural creature was evil and who was not was blurred or basically nonexistent. The demons resembled the angels and vice versa and the earthly priests were the worst sinners among the humans. I loved the sense of rotting menace and dark sin pervading this fallen world. Benulis has created her own unique and complex version of Paradise Lost; of heaven, hell, and life on earth; of how and why the angels fell in the first place; and the impending apocalypse prophetically called the Ruin.

I have no doubt that Benulis's vision of Archon’s world is complete and convincing – in her mind; however, that did not come across on the page for me.

I'm not sure if, three months prior to the release date, the uncorrected proof I received differed greatly from the final product but as it is, I will try to temper my review with the thought that perhaps some of my issues may stem from that.

I applaud novels which dispense with chapters of back story and start in media res, but maybe a little explication would have helped in this case. 80 pages in and I had very little idea what was going on, no idea about the rules of its world or why I should care about the Ruin the way all the characters did. And that state barely improved as the book progressed. I was so disoriented that I kept confirming that Archon was indeed the first book of the series because I continually felt like I jumped straight into the sequel.

Even worse, I didn't care about any of the characters (except for Sophia but she ... I would love to tell you what she is because that's one of Archon's fantastic ideas, but I won't spoil it for you).

I didn't care if the narcissistic heroine, Angela, lived or died. How could I when she was so dedicated to committing suicide? There were times when I wished she had succeeded. At one point, Angela comes across the dead body of schoolgirl and she only shows indifference; she had more reaction to a dead rat.

Angela did not interest me as she had no interest in living. All she cared about was the beautiful angel in her dreams. Which is why she wanted to kill herself - to be with him. Problem is, other than his beauty, I could not fathom why she would want to kill herself over him.

This obsession made no sense to me, as was Angela’s sudden infatuation with a beautiful novice priest and he with her. He commented on her painting and pouf! an immediate passionate connection ensues, not to be dampened even when he was going to let her be killed by his demonic cousin.

I was more interested in the villains (hard to tell who they were exactly as I could barely distinguish between the angels and demons since they all behaved in callous, murderous ways) than in Angela.

Archon is not Angelology; not even close. It reaches high and I would have loved for it to succeed; however, the story disappointingly fell below its ambitious premise.

Thank you to the Amazon Vine Program for providing a copy for me to review.